Notes and Essays -- John Brown

  By Patricia Zengerle August 7, 2026 1:13 PM EDT Updated 8 hours ago Reuters Summary -- Senate backs long-delayed Russia sanctions bill -- Measure gives Trump new tariff powers -- House fight looms over tariff provisions -- Measure had languished for well over a year WASHINGTON, Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate easily passed sweeping Russia sanctions legislation on Friday, advancing a long-delayed measure backed by late ​Senator Lindsey Graham and setting the stage for consideration by the House of Representatives within weeks. Graham, a South Carolina Republican who died ‌last month, was among Kyiv's most outspoken allies in Congress in its four-year-long war with Russia, and the bill aims to increase economic pressure on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. It also includes expanded sanctions on Iran sought by President Donald Trump as lawmakers pushed for a vote on the measure well over a year since it was introduced in 2025. The Senate's Republican leaders had not ​brough...

U.S.-made systems are Kyiv’s only means to shoot down ballistic missiles, and Ukraine says it has run out of interceptors. Seventeen Ukrainians died overnight . Yesterday [August 5], 2026 at 2:13 p.m. The Washington Post  B y Kostiantyn Khudov and David L. Stern   The Washington Post image from article (reproduced/reduced in size) with caption: "A man walks past bodies of people killed in a Russian strike  at a railway station in the Kyiv region on Wednesday.  (Mykola Tymchenko/AFP/Getty Images)" Not all images mentioned here, I [JB] could not for technical reasons  Ukrainian forces failed to shoot down a single Russian missile early Wednesday during Moscow’s latest aerial bombardment of Kyiv and the surrounding region — in what President Volodymyr Zelensky said was a consequence of a plunge in anti- ballistic systems supplied by its partners, including the United States. Zelensky wrote on X that 17 people were killed , adding: “Ballistic missile interceptors ...

  Accessibility statementSkip to main content Democracy Dies in Darkness johnbrown Politics White House Donald Trump Democracy in America Courts & Law National Security Elections Loomer’s Ukraine reversal deepens split in Trump’s ‘America First’ movement Influential MAGA blogger and former Kyiv critic Laura Loomer expects to visit the president to advocate for the U.S.-Ukraine alliance. August 3, 2026 at 5:00 a.m. EDTToday at 5:00 a.m. EDT 9 min Summary 333 Make us preferred on Google Blogger Laura Loomer has returned from a trip to Ukraine as one of MAGA’s most prominent advocates for the country in its war with Russia. (Jacob M. Langston/For The Washington Post) By Isaac Arnsdorf and Michael Birnbaum Laura Loomer, the controversial but influential pro-Trump blogger, arrived in Kyiv on July 19, with only a few meetings lined up and, in her telling, no agenda other than seeing the war-torn country for herself. Ten days later, she returned to Florida as one of MAGA’s mos...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had appealed for American air-defense missiles during a White House meeting on Tuesday. August 1, 2026 at 10:19 a.m Summary Smoke rises above residential buildings after an air attack in Kyiv on Saturday. (Eugene Kotenko/AFP/Getty Images) By David L. Stern, Kostiantyn Khudov, Serhii Korolchuk and Serhiy Morgunov, The Washington Post KYIV — Russian ballistic missiles rained down on Kyiv early Saturday, killing at least nine people and injuring more than 30, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country had run out of air defense interceptors./ Russian forces fired nearly 200 attack drones and 35 missiles, including 27 ballistic missiles, primarily at the capital, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on social media. “Only one ballistic missile was intercepted, simply because there are no interceptors,” Zelensky wrote. “A hell of a night,” Ukrainian Foreign Minster Andrii Sybiha wrote on X. The Russian attack occurred...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had appealed for American air-defense missiles during a White House meeting on Tuesday. August 1, 2026 at 10:19 a.m Summary Smoke rises above residential buildings after an air attack in Kyiv on Saturday. (Eugene Kotenko/AFP/Getty Images) By David L. Stern, Kostiantyn Khudov, Serhii Korolchuk and Serhiy Morgunov,  The Washington Post KYIV — Russian ballistic missiles rained down on Kyiv early Saturday, killing at least nine people and injuring more than 30, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country had run out of air defense interceptors./  Russian forces fired nearly 200 attack drones and 35 missiles, including 27 ballistic missiles, primarily at the capital, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on social media. “Only one ballistic missile was intercepted, simply because there are no interceptors,” Zelensky wrote. “A hell of a night,” Ukrainian Foreign Minster Andrii Sybiha wrote on X. The Russian attack occurre...